


A Passing Shadow

by shadedScribe



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Nightwing!Damian, Passing the mantle, a little bit in the future, it's background but Cass is Batman in this one too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23114404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadedScribe/pseuds/shadedScribe
Summary: Damian Wayne has a request for his oldest brother.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r
Comments: 1
Kudos: 103





	A Passing Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all. This is just a little ficlet set in my personal version of the DCU. I might write a few other drabbles set in this particular universe from time to time, but I just wanted to get this particular idea out.

Damian Wayne stood on the front steps of the Grayson family home, and absolutely did not fidget nervously. Not at all, in the slightest. It wasn’t as if he was asking about anything that was really that important, or it really mattered if Dick refused.

Damian sighed. A 17-year old who had been trained in all of the most dangerous skills in the world practically since he had been weaned should not have a problem asking his older brother for something. He rolled his eyes at himself and rang the doorbell.

“I’ll get it!” called a voice from inside. There was a patter of running feet, and the door was jerked open to reveal the smiling face of Mar’i Grayson.

“Uncle Damian!” 

He wheezed a little as Mar’i caught him in a crushing hug; she hadn’t quite inherited the full measure of her mother’s strength, but she had gotten a lot of it, even if she had only just turned six.

“Hello, Mar’i. Is your father in?”

“Yeah. Do you need to see him? Can you stay for dinner?” Mar’i was a very excitable child, and had been so ever since Damian had started getting roped into babysitting her.

(‘Roped into’, he said, like he hadn’t once forced several of the richest men in the world to reschedule a meeting for it, or hadn’t put a dozen of HIVE’s best agents into the hospital for trying to kidnap her. It was one thing to project a certain cool disinterest for professional reasons, but there was no need to lie to himself. His true family would never think less of him for having sentiments.)

“Yes, I would like to talk to him, and I’ll stay for dinner if your parents don’t mind.” 

“Yippee!” Mar’i hovered momentarily in the air with excitement as Damian walked down the hall. 

Kory looked up from where she was watering some of the lurid Tamaranean flora that hung in pots from the ceiling and smiled warmly at him.

“Hello, Damian. It’s good to see you. Dick is upstairs if you need to speak with him.”

Damian nodded in acknowledgement and mounted the steps, Mar’i moving to follow him. 

“Ah…” Damian started. He didn’t want to tell Mar’i to stay downstairs, but he had hoped to talk to Dick privately.

Kory seemed to catch that. “Mar’i,” she said as she scooped her daughter up, “why don’t we go to the kitchen, and you can help me with the dough for dinner tonight?”

“Okay!” Mar’i said cheerfully. “I’m gonna make all the best dumplings.” 

Damian mouthed a ‘thanks’ at Kory as she brought Mar’i to the kitchen and he climbed the steps to the upstairs office, where Dick was writing a few emails. He turned his chair around and stood up as Damian entered.

“Hey, Damian. What’s up?”

“I need to ask you something.”

“Go for it.”

Damian took a breath. “As you know, I am still operating as Robin.”

Dick nodded and made a sort of ‘go on’ hand gesture. Damian continued

“Although Robin is more normally associated with Batman, or with the leadership of a team of teenage heroes, I’ve been operating mostly independently from Batman lately, and Tim is still the leader of the current incarnation of the Teen Titans. Furthermore, Helena is getting to be old enough that she might start agitating to wear the mask soon, and Cassandra has expressed some willingness to begin taking her on non-combat patrols. As such, I believe it might be time for me to stop using the Robin identity.”

Dick nodded. “So, you were looking for advice on coming up with a new costume?”

“In a sense.” Damian straightened up his shoulders. “Actually, with your permission, I was going to ask if I could start operating as Nightwing.”

Dick blinked with surprise and was silent for a moment.

“I know that you’re probably still attached to it, since it was your personal creation, and even if you haven’t been in the field as much lately I understand if you would rather not-”

“Damian.” Dick cut him off as he put a friendly hand on Damian’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I’m honored that you want to be Nightwing. It’s yours.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Damian felt a little silly for being nervous. “You just seemed a little surprised is all.”

“Well, yes. I had always figured you would want to be Batman.”

“I do admire the things that Father did with the cowl,” said Damian, “and if it’s ever necessary for me to take up the mantle so that Gotham still has Batman, I’ll do so gladly. But when I think about what I want to do and the kind of hero I aspire to be, I mostly want to follow in your footsteps.”

Dick looked rather touched at that. “Thanks.”

“Besides,” Damian smiled wryly, “I think Cassandra has being Batman well in hand, don’t you?”

“That she does.” Dick reached over and pulled Damian into a hug. Damian was just a hair taller than him now.

“You’re gonna be the best damn Nightwing there ever was.” said Dick.

“I’ll do my best. I do have some very strong competition, though.”

Dick chuckled a bit at that.

A little while later, as Damian and the Graysons ate Tamaranean dumplings and baked potatoes, Dick seemed to think of something.

“You know, Tim and his friends are getting a little old to be the ‘Teen’ Titans. And Nightwing used to lead the group. Not to put any pressure on you, but you wouldn’t happen to have any ideas in that direction, would you?”

Damian thought about the pitch he had already started drafting in his head for Jon, Mia, Liv, and Wallace.

“Perhaps.”

Dick smirked. “I’ll talk to Tim.”

“Thank you.”

“Uncle Damian,” said Mar’i, tugging insistently at his sleeve. “Did anything exciting happen to you lately?”

Damian theatrically pretended to think for a moment. “Well, I did meet a new kind of space alien the other day.”

“Whoa!” said Mar’i, starry-eyed. “Tell me about it.”

Damian smiled, let the warmth of family seep into his soul, and settled in to play storyteller for the evening.

**Author's Note:**

> Olivia 'Liv' Free is an OC of mine I'm working on developing: she's Scott and Barda's daughter, and does superheroing as Miss Miracle.


End file.
